Colour Writing | Your Home and Garden

Three of my favourite things are interior design, colour, and glossy magazines. So you can imagine how excited I am to be able to bring all three of these things together - I'm working with Your Home and Garden as a colour writer, and my first feature appeared in the March issue which is out now.

This feature focusses on renovations, and how important it is to work out your colour scheme before you get started. As I said in the article, colour can dramatically change the feel of a home and express it's owner's personality. We bring you four very different colour themes to help you with your choice. Each theme includes paint colours chosen from the PPG Paints range, as well as tips and advice from me.

Photography courtesy of bauersyndication.com.au

If you haven't already, make sure you pick up a copy of Your Home and Garden, it's packed full of inspiration. And keep your eye out for the next issue which will feature a new page, also written by me, called "Nook of the Month". Each month a little-used or under appreciated corner of a home will feature, and I'll share some ideas on how to use the nook in a new way.

Small Spaces

Decorating in small areas can be tricky, but if you're clever there are lots of ways you can make them work. Bunk and loft beds are a brilliant way to utilise available space, and if need be, you can have them made especially to fit. The built-in storage in the bunk below is genius, and the down lights on the top cupboards are a nice touch.

Having a loft bed allows you to use the space below in a number of ways - another bed, drawers and shelving, a sofa, or a desk. This works really well in a child's bedroom.

Talking of desks, we often need one at home to work at, but if you can't spare a whole room for an office, a little nook can do the job. The table below couldn't fit this space any better. Having a stool means it can be tucked away underneath when not in use without taking up precious space (this one is a little bit low to be used at a desk, but you get the idea).

You can use a cupboard to house your little office, which you can then close up out of sight. I love this one below with a fold down shelf and a door-hung magazine rack.

One of my favourite space savers is the kitchen/dining nook. If you don't have a lot of room for a large dining table, a booth seat against the wall is a great solution.

And these examples below show you how you can rock a wall mounted table. Small, but clever, the lack of legs gives the illusion of space in a small area.

One of the smallest spaces in our home is the laundry. Not many of us have the luxury of an entire room, it's more likely to be hidden behind a cupboard. That can be totally functional as you can see below. Having a front loading washer and dryer side by side gives you a handy surface for folding washing. Wall mounted shelves hold all the necessities.

Or if you stack the washer and dryer on top of each other you could have room for a sink to the side. This example below is an excellent use of space with pretty good storage for such a tiny area.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Don't let size matter, think creatively, you can make that small space work. If you need any help with yours, contact us at Bibby + Brady, Dael & I would love to help.

Decorating on a Budget

Another of my new series for 2014 is 'decorating on a budget' - tips and ideas for ways to beautify your home without breaking the bank. Today I've got a few different ideas for you to try...

Decorate with nature: Mother Nature is the most discerning artist, hands down, so take advantage of her creations. Bringing nature inside adds life, texture, shape, and colour. You don't have to spend a lot of money at a florist, just look to your own backyard. Whether it's a singe flower, a branch, or some glossy leaves, keep it simple, and let nature do the talking.

Even a simple bowl of stones can look stunning. Get the kids to help you find pretty and interesting stones from the beach or river.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Hanging pictures: Art is the quickest way to add style and personality to your home, but framing can be costly. There are several ways that you can display your unframed artwork that will still look really cool. 

We all know and love washi tape with it's massive range of colours and patterns. Use it to not only stick your pics on the wall, but also frame them.

Wooden pants hangers are a really clever way to hang prints and posters. All you need is a nail or hook to hang them off.

And bulldog clips do an awesome job on larger pieces of art. Just make sure your four nails are in the right place so you don't get a saggy poster.

1 | 2 | 3

Lego display: There are so many cool and inexpensive ways to decorate a child's room. Here are a couple of brilliant and simple ideas using Lego. Glue a Lego base sheet onto the top of wall shelf, or a small side table. Use it to display all your child's Lego creations.

I love this idea to display all the cool Lego characters. If little hands are going to be taking the characters on and off, make sure the blocks are securely attached. Otherwise hang it higher, purely as a cool piece of art.

1 | 2

I hope you've found something here that you can use in your own home. I'd love to see photos if you do - email them to me, or post them to Instagram tagging me in (@cushandnooks), and with #cushandnooksdecoratingonabudget.